What You Need to Know about the New Gorilla Museum in Musanze?

Are you primatologist or anthropologist? Exploring the history of Rwanda’s mountain gorilla conservation success is now easier with a newly established Gorilla Museum in Musanze, Rwanda. This mighty museum is 1 and half hours’ drive from Kigali Capital City to Musanze.

The gorilla museum is a new exhibit that looks at communicating the facts about Rwanda’s Mountain gorilla protection success to the world. It is popular as the “Karisoke Exhibit”; it came into scene due to the Karisoke Research Center that is operated by the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International (DFGFI), an international gorilla conservation organization.

The DFGFI was set up in remembrance and to convey the legacy of the great primatologist and anthropologist Dr. Dian Fossey to the future generations. Dian Fossey is popular and acknowledged internationally for her research on the critically endangered mountain gorillas and not to forget her commitment towards conservation of these endangered species from the hands of poachers.

She conducted a 20 year research around the famous Virunga Volcanoes that comprise of Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. But the unfortunate bit of it all she was murdered in 1985 by anonymous people.

However, in 1967, Dian Fossey had set up the Karisoke Research Center for research purposes, a remote rainforest camp that straddles between Mount Karisoke and Mount Bisoke. Due to the rarest setting in this area, Dian Fossey founded the Karisoke Research Center.

She became most famous to the local residents as Nyiramacibiri, which denotes “the woman who lives alone on the mountain.” Currently, this research centre plays a fundamental role towards mountain gorilla conservation together with other stakeholders.

Incredibly, the Karisoke Research Center was able to remain even after the murder of Dian Fossey in 1985 and the 1994 horrific genocide that occurred between the Hutus and Tutsis of Rwanda. At the time of the genocide, it was ruined 3 times prior government’s relocation to the current place in Musanze Town, opposite Musanze Pension Plaza.

Following the opening of gorilla museum in Musanze, visitors were guided through the exhibit that comprises of 3 sections;

First and foremost is the gorilla room with 2 massive exhibits; one of which is for a male human skeleton and the other is for a male gorilla. While at the gorilla room, the genetic relationships between man and Ape are well described.

Visitors get acquainted to the distinctions in the physical build between the mountain gorilla and man and between male and female gorilla. There are also exhibits and notes on the walls that further describe the life history of the critically endangered mountain gorillas, reproduction, life expectancy and infant mortality.

The other corner of the room straddles a wall of fame. This is where visitors can get to know the names of mountain gorillas that were killed by poachers in the previous years as they are pinned on the wall each with the year of life and death. Some of which include Marchessa (1942-1980), Unce Bert (1952-1978), Effie (1961 to 1994), Macho (1961-1971), Kweli (1975-1978) and Digit (1965-1977).

The next room is the Dian Fossey room, where you can find all the details about her gorilla conservation attempts, field notes, field photographs, book excerpts and newspaper printouts among others. However, the largest attraction in the room is the small cache of personal belonging that were got from Dian Fossey’s first site, an ancient and simple office table and chairs, a big traditional drum and a small shelf that were all in her private cabin.

The 3^rd room is known as the Virtual Virunga. Inside it, there is a massive 3 dimensional visualization of mountain gorillas ranging from data, satellite imagery and photographic map, projected electronically via a bed of sand. In other room, there are exhibits that reflect the threats to Rwanda’s mountain gorillas one of which is beekeeping around the Volcanoes National Park boundaries.

Whereas the entry to the park is not allowed if you do not have a relevant permit, unregulated beekeeping around the park boundaries still continues to be an illegal activity. The ancient criterion of harvesting honey is basically by use of fire in order to chase the bees away from their beehives. Unfortunately, the fire catches the nearby tree species and the vegetation, and at the end of it all, the gorilla habitats suffer greatly.

In another corner, visitors can sight exhibits of other wildlife species in the Volcanoes National Park.  Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund focuses its activities on the 2 main subspecies of gorillas in Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo. This includes the rare mountain gorillas and the Eastern Lowland gorillas.

The mountain gorillas are only limited to 2 populations, the Virunga population which inhabits approximately 480 members and the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park protects about 400 members. Though they have the smallest population, the mountain gorillas are the only subspecies of large primates whose number keeps escalating slowly and not forgetting that, they are most sought after creatures not only for research but also tourism purposes. Visiting the gorilla museum, starts from 9:00am to 4:00pm weekdays!

However, the Karisoke Research Center has spent about 50 years while working on conserving gorillas in Rwanda. Dian Fossey started her gorilla research journey in 1967 and recently, the 50^th anniversary was celebrated to mark the 50 years since she set up Karisoke Research Center.

Today, this research work at Karisoke has extended its duties to the Democratic Republic of Congo in order to help the Eastern Lowland gorillas (Grauer’s gorillas) that have also been listed as the critically endangered species. Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo are the only conservation programs that the Gorilla Fund facilitates in Africa. The 2 operations work with local staff of about 150 committed employees, 115 of them in Rwanda and 35 in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The gorilla fund also helps to keep the skeleton team in Atlanta, US which handles its communication and fun raising. The main focus of Dian Fossey Fund and the Karisoke Research Center is dependent on 4 areas; protection of the gorillas through partnerships with government, secondly, science both on the gorillas and other biodiversity in the national park.

Thirdly, they also focus on training of young African scientists through partnerships with the University of Rwanda where biology students are invited to Karisoke Research Center for conservation lessons, field methodology and biodiversity. Lastly, the local communities are also considered vital when it comes to gorilla conservation that is why it is crucial for them to also know about conservation and value of the gorillas and the habitats.

In conclusion, the gorilla museum is an important conservation progress in Rwanda that offers opportunity for travelers to explore the history of gorilla conservation success and the team is doing its best to ensure that these endangered species are well protected.

The museum consists of 3 sections where gorilla exhibits are kept and this offers visitors chance to understand the gorilla life expectancy, reproduction (genetic relationships between humans and gorillas), the continued threat to gorilla survival in the jungles of Rwanda among others.